The labels should be centered in their boxes. You can find the width of a label by calling label.getWidth() and the height it extends above the baseline by calling label.getAscent(). If you want to center a label, you need to shift its origin by half of these distances in each direction.

and to me that last part doesnt make sense. to me it should read something like

If you want to center a label, you need to shift its origin by half of these distances in each direction relative to...

im not sure if these two issues are directly connected, but help on either one would be appreciated :)

Yep, a font is described by three sizes: an ascent and a descent and a font character width; the first two are vertical measurements and the last one is a horizontal measurement. Sometimes the descent is measured by negative numbers, sometimes by positive numbers; check your manuals.

hey Brain_Child did I play with you and SoulSlayer last night on Modern Warfare 2? I'm pretty sure that's the same moniker he was using.

Liberty has never come from the government.
Liberty has always come from the subjects of government.
The history of liberty is the history of resistance.
The history of liberty is a history of the limitation of governmental power, not the increase of it.